Chapter 19: Escaping in the Flames

The fiery red light reflected off the long silver hair, or rather, the silver hair reflected the fiery red light. The halo of moonlight slightly diminished, and the color of the long hair revealed a faint warmth, but Xie De's face was stern and cold. He stood tall like jade, his entire body wrapped in a dark leather coat, making him forever belong to the mysterious and dangerous darkness.

Who are you? Who exactly are you?

Wei Yanchi felt his heart tightening, thinking he must be staring blankly. Otherwise, why would he feel that this ghostly and gloomy place was beautiful?

Hu Wei's voice pulled back his senses, and he coughed awkwardly.

Fortunately, Yue Xiamo, who was traveling with them, didn't notice his abnormality, because she was also shocked by the man's tyrannical strength. Her gloomy brows even showed ripples of admiration.

Hu Wei went closer, asking anxiously.

"Mr. 39, are you hurt?"

Xie De shook his head, signaling them to go into the room and take a look, and took out those three love letters to hand to Wei Yanchi.

The room was still that girl's room. The window facing the outside of the factory was pitch black, emitting waves of an ominous, cold aura. Nothing could be seen at all.

They entered the room.

Wei Yanchi lowered his head to look at the letters in his hand. After only half a minute, he looked up, his eyes filled with complete certainty.

All the clues had linked together. The smile on Wei Yanchi's lips deepened, and his aura became even more like a spring breeze. He said gently, "I think I know what the scenario is planning."

Yue Xiamo hurriedly asked.

"What plan?"

"Wait."

After dropping this word, Wei Yanchi sat down relaxed on the only bed in the room, slowly reading the contents of the love letter in a very good mood.

"With this poem, I dedicate to my true love.

I met you,

It is like a dead tree greeting the spring.

It is a long-lost joy,

It is the ripples of a calm sea.

I met you,

Time became faster and faster,

Fast as a galloping horse,

I cannot catch up.

But sometimes it is as slow as a snail,

Leaving me to suffer in the times you are joyful.

How I envy her,

I will also forever hate the time that took away the moments between us."

Wei Yanchi's voice was very pleasant, like jade striking a clear spring. Reading poetry gave a rather classical feeling, easing the surrounding sweltering heat by a few degrees.

But only by a few degrees.

Xie De couldn't suppress the emotions in his heart and looked around anxiously.

During the time Wei Yanchi was reading the poem, the fire that was originally on the first floor had actually spread to the second floor by now. Looking outside from the room, there was no longer any place to step. The flames were swift and fierce, rushing straight towards the room.

What was more terrifying was that there was no way out of the room! That window couldn't be opened at all, and even if it could, they didn't know what was outside the factory.

The wooden door couldn't block the flames. The heatwave swept over the wind chimes outside the door, making a jingling sound, like the Grim Reaper's death warrant.

Yue Xiamo's face was already pale. As the heatwave surged in, she felt a bit unsteady on her feet.

Wei Yanchi stood up to support her, "Are you okay?"

"Not very well. How long do we have to wait?"

"I don't know."

Yue Xiamo's face grew increasingly pale, waves of dizziness appearing in her eyes. Wei Yanchi supported her as she leaned against the wall, comforting her in a low voice.

"Soon. Just hold on for another five minutes."

Five minutes, wouldn't we be roasted into jerky by then.

The bed in the room had already caught fire.

It was so swift and fierce. Just getting slightly close to the illuminated area of the firelight could easily cause burns. Now, it wasn't just cold sweat on their bodies, hot sweat was also constantly surfacing on their faces.

Xie De noticed that Yue Xiamo's lips had already started to turn a bit blue. She was merely forcing herself to hold on.

Gibberish popped up.

"She's fine, she just hasn't eaten for two days and her blood sugar is low. She'll be fine once we get out in a bit."

But the problem was not knowing when they would get out, nor knowing what the protagonist was waiting for.

Xie De sighed. Since they were getting out within these few minutes, Xie De patted Hu Wei, gesturing for her to give the biscuits she had collected in her pocket earlier, which were no longer needed, to Yue Xiamo to eat.

Hu Wei listened to him very well. She did as told without hesitation, walking over expressionlessly, as if completing some mission. She handed the biscuits to Yue Xiamo and stared at her, forcing her to eat them.

Yue Xiamo, surprised, bit into the biscuit and swallowed a mouthful, looking at Xie De along with Wei Yanchi.

But Xie De didn't look at them after instructing Hu Wei. He was currently staring at the only window in the room.

"Gibberish, what do you think is outside? What do you think our chances of survival are if we jump out of the window?"

"Guaranteed death. Outside is a void, a place outside the scenario. How long do you think you can live in the universe?"

Gibberish told him the truth.

"Then it would be a very miserable death."

"Don't overthink it, trust the protagonist's judgment."

"I'd like to." Xie De was speechless. It was just that the fire was too swift, and the burning things had already started emitting thick smoke, forcing them to crouch low and cover their mouths and noses. The danger of death permeated them at every moment.

Hu Wei had already started coughing, her pale face flushed with blood from being roasted by the flames, her skin turning blood red.

Finally, before they were about to be burned or choked to death.

The scenario system's voice slowly arrived.

"All players, please solve the boss's trouble! Why did a fire suddenly break out in the factory?"

Wei Yanchi coughed from the smoke, but he calmly and clearly answered.

"Ma Hui and Zhang Zhi both like Chunju, but Chunju likes the boss. However, because of the boss's wife's existence, she pretended to like Wu Yong, while Wu Yong likes Ma Hui."

"There was a conflict between Wu Yong and Li Qiang. Li Qiang teamed up with Zhang Zhi to ostracize Wu Yong. Wu Yong knew Zhang Zhi liked Chunju, so in a fit of anger, he accepted Chunju's confession. Chunju had no choice but to be with Wu Yong. After getting together, Chunju, out of jealousy toward the boss's wife, instigated Wu Yong to hook up with the boss's wife, which later led to the boss beating his wife to death in domestic violence."

"Ma Hui found out Chunju liked the boss and directly told Wu Yong the truth. Her original intention was to make them break up, but unexpectedly, Wu Yong wanted to kill Chunju. Ma Hui couldn't stop it, so she turned around and called Li Qiang and Zhang Zhi. Seeing Wu Yong committing violence against Chunju, Zhang Zhi, in a fit of anger, wanted to kill Wu Yong."

"The place they fought was the kitchen. Wu Yong didn't die from the building collapse, he angrily confronted the other few. There was a gas stove in the kitchen, and it was their scuffling that caused the fire to break out!"

The scenario system paused, "Answer correct."

The affairs between these few people were simply comparable to a soap opera.

The third letter without a signature indicating sender or recipient was a letter written by Chunju to the boss, and the last few lines alluded to the boss and his wife.

Xie De looked at Wei Yanchi in shock, but because the smoke was too thick, his eyes were stinging with tears and he couldn't see clearly, so he could only complain internally.

My god, the truth of this scenario is really wild. Who on earth could guess this?

The scenario kept throwing out all sorts of clues to disrupt the plot, like the boss worshipping the Kuman Thong, hiring child labor, the sixth supervisor…

These were also clues, just not clues for this particular storyline.

Being able to extract all the clues and piece together the final plot of the scenario, Xie De almost wanted to applaud Wei Yanchi.

Finally, they felt a hint of coolness. Raising their heads to look again, outside the window was surprisingly no longer pitch black, but a gloomy, rainy day where they could see wild, overgrown greenery.

Wei Yanchi pushed the window open. He looked back with a smile. Although his body was very battered, his aura was indeed like a pine tree.

"Mr. 39, may I have your contact information?"

What are you dallying for? The fire is coming over!

Xie De didn't answer the protagonist's question at all. Anxious to save his life, he directly vaulted and jumped out the window.

The wind howled past his ears.

He didn't land on the ground. Instead, after a wave of weightlessness, Xie De opened his eyes.

He was back in his own humble house.

With a thud, Xie De collapsed onto the floor, devoid of strength. He looked around blankly, until the little house centipede on his shoulder curiously walked down his arm to the floor. Only then did he snap back to reality and scrambled to the bathroom.

He threw up violently until the world spun.

He almost emptied his stomach completely.

Gibberish's voice came over faintly.

"Host, stop throwing up for a second, and don't pass out yet, charge me up first!"